Numerous Moroccans gathered outside the Moroccan parliament in Rabat on Monday to protest “the crime committed by the Algerian state” following the shooting deaths of two tourists on jet skis in Morocco on Friday by the Algerian coast guard.
It was claimed that the tourists accidentally crossed the sea border separating the two Mediterranean nations.
On Sunday, Algeria reported that its security personnel had opened after the group of jet skiers disregarded warning shots and refused to halt. Three jet skis that had secretly infiltrated our territorial waters were intercepted by a coastguard unit on Tuesday at 7:47 pm (18:47 GMT), according to a press release from the defense ministry.
At the gathering in Rabat on Monday, Hicham Mellioui, a member of the Moroccan League for Citizenship and Human Rights, urged the “Moroccan government to take a very firm stance in the face of these crimes.” To oppose them (Algeria), Mellioui said, “whether through declarations, through potential actions before international bodies, with official statements, or with diplomatic acts.”
Thami Belmaalam, another participant, stated that applications will be submitted to the international courts by Moroccan and foreign organisations tomorrow. For the same reason, a letter will be delivered to the UN Secretary-General.
The attorneys for the two men who were killed in the shooting intend to lodge a case in France. One of them was French-Moroccan, and the other had a French residency visa.
According to reports from Morocco, the two victims were a French-Moroccan tourist named Bilal Kissi, 29, and his Moroccan cousin Abdelali Mechouar, 40.
Smail Snabe, a third man, was wounded and taken into custody in Algeria, according to reports in Moroccan media on Friday. After leaving the Moroccan town of Saidia, which is close to the Algerian border, Kissi’s brother Mohamed, who had also been traveling with the party, claimed they got lost and ran out of fuel.
He said that he was taken up by the Moroccan navy after being able to escape the area following the incident. On the Moroccan side of the border, on Saidia beach, the body of Bilal Kissi was found.
Saidia is a well-liked summer resort in Morocco that is renowned for its long beach and water activities. In the presence of numerous family members, Kissi was buried on Thursday in the village of Bni Drar close to Oujda.
The first official response from Algeria to the incident on Tuesday came in a statement from the defense minister on Sunday. According to a legal source who spoke with the official Moroccan news agency MAP on Friday, the prosecutor’s office in the Moroccan city of Oujda has launched an investigation.
The two tourists’ families have decided to file a lawsuit in France, according to a statement made by their attorneys on Sunday.
According to Hakim Chergui, who is representing the victims’ relatives, the lawsuit would be filed on Monday or Tuesday.
Authorities in Algeria are being charged with attempted aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking a vessel, and failing to help a person in need.